Alpine iLX-W650

Add some sound deadening to your front doors and you will notice an even bigger difference in sound. It doesnt take a lot. Put some behind the speaker and along the large portions inside the door skin and you will be very pleased.

 

I am definitely adding some deadening material soon.


Called Crutchfield they could not figure it out but both me and my Father who did electrical work for decades found out that the metra harness going to the dashboard was connecting to my factor tweeters and not the front 6x9’s…those are unplugged so we were connecting up to open wires going to nothing…so he ran a gauge to find the correct ones and we manually rewired the factory green and blue wires into the crossover. Works perfect now.

I just need some more wire to do the left side and we are finished.

I did not eq everything yet but so far that front 6X9 sounds great even set to flat with no gain added. The tweeters are hissy but again we have not done any eq’ing yet. The guy from Crutchfield told us he was just about to tell us to do the same exact thing, lol…so why was he telling me I had a faulty amp that needed to be sent back? Lol

 

Hey on Crutchfield they have very expensive sound deadening packages and some very cheap sound deadening material.
The cheaper stuff on Crutchfield’s website is Dynamat. Should I go with Dynamat?

Also…do I have to put the speaker deadening material on the whole entire door…or can I simply put it behind and around the main 6x9 front door speakers?

Thanks in advance. >

 

Also…the

$220 Alpine KTA-450 4-Channel Power Pack Amplifier with Dynamic Peak Power 45W RMS x 4, at 2 Or 4 Ohms

Alpine KTA-450 amp does get kinda hot when it is on playing music. Not really hot that you cannot touch it but still pretty hot. Is this normal? I’m just making sure that nothing is getting fried in there.

…and again this amp is pushing 2 Infinity REF-9630cx in the front with the included tweeters…and 2 Infinity REF-6532ex in the rear.

Thanks again.

 

Look on ebay and get a box of Noico. THats what i used. Dynmat does great also, it was probably the 1st material that came out in the late 90's. You dont have to cover the whole door. Try behind the speaker and then some on the top area on the outer skin of the door. Reach through the access holes and cover some of the space in there. Plenty of threads in here showing some pics but you dont have to go overboard

 

I have been told that the amp gets hot but it was the 1st gen i was warned about. Where did you mount yours at? You are running 4 speakers so it shouldnt be too hot, its not like you have it bridged but it is a small amp with small heatshrinks.

 

Right now I do not have the amp mounted as I am still adjusting the gain levels but this amp is actually attached with a metal bracket the the

$280 Alpine iLX-W650 7" Double DIN Touchscreen Digital Multimedia Receiver with Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto

Alpine iLX-W650 head unit…it is designed to be mounted this way with that particular head unit…this is going to get installed together in the dashboard. This is going in a ‘05 Tacoma.

I have been reading many articles that this particular amp does get pretty hot so this sounds normal…again it is not so hot that you cannot touch it…but it definitely heats up.

 

Ok it’s the piggy back version. I can imagine it getting hot putting out decent power in a small chassis is taxing on it. I have heard they do good though. I’ve always liked also Alpine headunits. Still have all of mine from starting back in 92

 

It gets so hot that I cannot touch it without burning myself…I need to get crutchfield on the phone because they had my dip switches completely backwards. In order to get all 4 speakers fading up and down I have to put it where according to crutchfield is opposite from the 4 channel…also when I put the dip switch to RCA according to crutchfield it sounds much better when I put that to speaker instead of RCA.

I hate how the dip switches are all bass ackwards. Maybe RCA is supposed to have slightly lower volume? I am using RCA’s to connect the head unit to the amp. Also when putting the dip switch (according to crutchfield) to 4 Channel when I use the fader in eq settings I can fade to the rear speakers no problem…but when I fade up to the front the front speakers completely stop playing and I only have rear speakers.

BTW my God this system hits so hard!!!!!! I do not even have a decent subwoofer no subwoofer at all and Holy Hell this complete setup is extremely powerful. I love it!

I really need to fix the dip switches because as of now they are “supposedly” set for 60Hz…however I do not know what is up or down on the dipswitches.

I am not going to play anymore music through this unit until I know I have all the dipswitches in the correct place.

 

Look up 5 star car audio on you tube. They have done some vids on that amp and how it should be setup. I’d follow their instructions

 

Thanks I’ll check it out. According to Crutchfield…this amp does get very hot and that is normal…I do not like the idea of putting something so hot in my dashboard…I’m afraid something will catch fire or melt. They keep telling me that is normal though…I could fry eggs off this amp it gets so hot…and it stays hot even when I am not playing any music.

I must say God this is an extremely powerful unit. My virgin ears to quality audio cannot believe the power and bass response I am getting out of the Infinity Reference speakers being pushed by this little amp.
I do not even have a subwoofer in my Toyota Access Cab yet but cannot wait to…I cannot imagine even more power but I am all for it.
I have both the front and rear gains set very low and the power is more than enough…if I breathe on the front gain a little too much the speakers click in and out (not a good sound at all). …so I made sure the gains are not too high and as of now half volume sounds decent but once I start approaching 3/4 volume it is intense! If I go full volume the speakers hold very well but the volume is ear popping at full volume…so I never go higher than 3/4 volume. Crutchfield had me set up the head unit and amp that way.

I think I am going to get in touch with “Alpine” audio themselves to make sure this amp is supposed to be cooking so hot like it is.

 

Sounds like a good idea. I’ve talked guys at the former shop I worked for years ago about this amp a while back and they never mentioned it getting as hot as you describe. They did say a previous version got extremely hot and they sent them back. The heat you are describing definitely sounds extreme. If you have a cheap heat thermometer say from harbor freight, I’d be curious to see exactly how hot it is getting. I agree not wanting it in your dash where air is restricted if something is wrong with it.
I wonder how the Kicker Key amp would do as a replacement. Power is about the same and could easily be placed under the front seat

 

I just checked out the temps on this amp. When I’m just playing average music nothing too heavy at about half volume it runs at about 120 degrees Fahrenheit. When I really started cranking some heavy music I mean hard death metal ear splitting power very loud volume it jumps up to about 125 degrees Fahrenheit. I am quite positive it got a little hotter than that yesterday but I was cranking some heavy powerful music for about 2 hours straight.
Also…I notice a slight mechanical smell when the amp is really pushing out heavy power…not a burnt smell but I am guessing I am just smelling the amp’s internals as they heat up? It is not a strong smell and btw I still have my amp sitting on the middle arm rest…I am not putting this in the dashboard until I know everything is setup right.

I really do not want to do more testing on this unit right now because I still cannot get a straight answer from Crutchfield as to whether or not I have the dip switches in the right position. I may try contacting “Alpine” themselves. I am connected with RCA’s and when I put the switch “According to the instructions and one Crutchfield employee who did not sound too sure” to 4 channel I can no longer fade to my front speakers…only fade works for rear speakers in fact fading to the front speakers turns the front speakers all the way off with only the rear speakers working…leaving fade in center they all work fine. When I put the dip-switch the opposite way from instructions I can fully fade and play to all 4 individual speakers. Also…when putting the dip-switche to where RCA is according to the instructions…I notice a lower level of volume from the get go…putting the switch the other way from instructions I immediately notice a slight increase in volume even when turned low…almost like that gives me a stronger connection.

Exact words from Crutchfield: “Just try both and see which one sounds better…don’t worry you are not going to blow up anything”.

Again…I am not doing anymore testing until I talk to Alpine because supposedly they have me set up for 60Hz. That may be off too.
Ever since I backed off on the front gain just a hair I no longer get that frightening sound clicking.
I am surprised by how I only need a very minimal amount of gain on both the rear and front to push out some serious power. I am not even at a quarter turn on both gains.

Again I am quite positive it gets a little hotter than mentioned above the longer I listen to heavy music with loud volume but not by too much…but still noticeably hotter.

I thought the temp gun would have it much higher like over 200 degrees but apparantly 200 plus degrees is much hotter than I thought. …again I was so surprised it was temping under 130 degrees.
BTW I also noticed that the metal bracket that connects the

$220 KTA-450 4-Channel Power Pack Amplifier with Dynamic Peak Power 45W RMS x 4, at 2 Or 4 Ohms

KTA-450 to the

$280 Alpine ilx-W650 7" Double DIN Touchscreen Digital Multimedia Receiver with Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto

Alpine ilx-W650 is about 10 degrees cooler so it is probably a better idea to run all the cables through the space between the amp and head unit. 5 Star Car Audio has a video of them being run between the amp and head unit the same exact way. I’m surprised that the metal bracket makes that big of a difference on heat reduction.

I would like to mention that I have not updated the Alpine head unit yet and I must say that Apple CarPlay sounds tons better than Bluetooth. I understand there is an update that is supposed to make Bluetooth sound better but I am fine with this because I only plan on using Apple CarPlay anyway. I am curious as to how a USB thumb stick sounds.

More than anything…temps on the amp right under 130 degrees Fahrenheit sounds okay? I just read some amps handle like 185 degrees Fahrenheit so I really do not know.
Thanks.

 

Yep. I think the bracket probably works as an extended heat sink. If 5Star showed a specific dip switch setting, I’d follow them. They know there stuff and so sole nice you tube question and answer live streams as well. That temp may not be too bad and smell probably is the board heating up. If you are cranking that much, you may need more power later down the road

 

More power…or you kidding? I can only breathe on the gain knobs to push all speakers very hard. I had to find that sweet spot to where I could get past half volume without the gain taking over so fast…these sound so powerful honestly they get scary! My ears are so used to a stock ‘05 cheap head unit I’ve never experienced power like this. I am referring to when I’m listening to death metal BTW. I have a ton of eq’ing to do as I can tell just by pushing the “rock” setting is not enough…sooooo many eq’ing options on this head unit. I think more than anything not having a subwoofer is why I have to crank these pretty hard to get perfect sound I am looking for…these infinity reference speakers have some very tight bass which I am not used to as my factory had more of a saggy bass sound…putting a decent 12” subwoofer in the back would probably give me all the lows I need and then some without having to crank the speakers too hard.

 

I’ve got this unit…I absolutely love it…only one thing…does anyone make an external volume knob I can solder into the back of the head unit and stick it somewhere next to the Alpine head unit?

My life would be so much easier with a little volume knob. Thanks in advance.

 

NEED HELP!! I got my stereo all wired earlier this week and went to install it today. got the old one out got the new one all plugged in and nothing....
I got an

$280 Alpine iLX-W650 7" Double DIN Touchscreen Digital Multimedia Receiver with Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto

Alpine iLX-W650 from Crutchfield with the plug and play PAC RP4.2-TY11 as suggest to keep my steering wheel control. I hate wiring so I took my time and made sure everything was correct before I soldered anything in (plug and play my ass) But I got nothing. I found a video of an install of that same head unit, same PAC thing, same year truck even. When he did it he had the same issue and found a bad fuse in the engine bay. I checked it and all fuses are good but I still have nothing on the screen. Anyone with experience got any suggestions? Crutchfield is already closed when I tried to call them so I'll try them again tomorrow but as of right now but dash is still half apart.

 

Providing you did not cut any of the wires from the stock harness (I am assuming you go the adapter that goes between the OEM harness and the unit) you should be able to plug the old unit in and see if it works. If if does then everything up to the point of the wiring harness is good. IF not then you need to start looking at all the fuses. If the old unit works then check the fuse on the yellow wire (I think) on the unit power harness. If that is good then I would check the Grounding point you used for the new unit (you will need a multi meter for this, fi you don't have one you can get one at a Home Depot, they are open today, I think). If you have the multi meter also check to see if you are getting 12 volts on the power wire in the power harness, I am assuming that would be the red wire.
If you have 12 volts at the red wire, using your selected grounding point, then it might be the head unit. Otherwise it is probably a soldered joint in the wire harness. I used Crutchfields service where they did all the prewiring for me for $25 so I had almost a total plug and play install. The $25 was way worth my time. I hope this helps.

 

Just got off the phone with them and they had me check all the power wires. I got a bad harness for the PAC unit. I had power at the truck but nothing going into the HU and nothing going into the PAC module. They are sending me a new one so hopefully it was just a weird fault in their wiring. Really odd though.

 

Good to hear. Hopefully you get it up and running with no other issues. It is a great unit for the price. I really like mine.